Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
Make Money Hosting Foreign Students
MoneyMagpie team
10th Jul 2020
It’s always nice to have some new faces in your life. Have you ever thought about hosting a foreign exchange student? You probably should, having a student, or even a university lecturer in your home can be a really rewarding experience for everyone involved!
Also, there are ways you can make even more money with foreign students including giving English as a Foreign Language tutorials. Find out more below.
- How do I get into hosting foreign students?
- Step by step: hosting foreign students?
- How much will I make hosting foreign students?
- Are there any hidden costs?
- Is it worth it?
How do I get into hosting foreign students?
There are thousands of English language schools, social clubs, colleges and universities around the country with foreign students looking for places to stay while they learn.
Students at different institutions have varying accommodation needs.
english as a foreign language
For example, there foreign students learning English as a foreign language who are usually only here for about six weeks.
Lots of language schools run summer programmes for teenage foreign students, although during term time they have students of all ages for varying periods of time.
There are two types of hosting English Language students:
- The first is the easiest – you’re expected to provide house and board for a student who’ll then go to a language school or organised activities during the day. In the evenings and their free time they can come and go as they please. This is very flexible. Different schools will expect different types of board, from just bed and continental breakfast to full board. You can choose whether to let the students cook or use your laundry facilities, phone and internet.
- The second option is providing accommodation, food and tuition for a certain proportion of the day. To do this you’ll be expected to have some sort of qualification in teaching English as a foreign language, preferably a TEFL.
For more information on this read our articles on teaching English as a foreign language and making up to £80 as a private tutor.
university students and lecturers
Then there are university students and lecturers who can be in the country for up to six months at a time.
Universities often run exchange programmes and will need accommodation for students for a term or a semester.
step by step: hosting foreign students
step 1: contact schools and universities
If you want to start hosting foreign students then your first port of call is a local language school.
They’ll have an accommodation officer who’ll be in charge of a database of host families.
To get on the database you’ll probably have to undergo a home inspection and be within a reasonable distance of the school.
The International Association of Language Centres and English UK both have a list of English Language schools in the UK. Find your nearest schools and give them a call.
If you’re close to a university, visit their website and try and find the accommodation office. If they don’t have a section about hosting foreign students then give them a call, see if they do it and if so how you can get involved. Find universities close to you on the UCAS website.
step 2: look at ads
You can also look for adverts in your local paper and ask around. Even local football clubs do exchanges and need accommodation for foreign players. Put an ad up for free on Gumtree too so that anyone in your area can get in touch.
Another great site to check out is KaplanInternational.com. Kaplan International Colleges is a large international education group with over 40 English language schools worldwide including 11 in the UK and Ireland. They look for friendly hosts who are interested in learning about other cultures and who can provide a warm welcome and comfortable accommodation to international students. To find out more go to KaplanInternational.com.
step 3: check the rules and requirements
Different organisations will have different requirements for their students so find out what they need from hosts.
If you’re hosting teenagers who are doing an exchange, for example, you are likely to be asked to provide all their meals, pick them up from school and more.
Companies such as Homestay.com allow you to rent out your spare room on a daily, weekly or monthly rate to students over the age of 18.
You could also use Airbnb for short-term rentals. Quite often foreign students look for a room to rent on that website.
Hosts are expected to provide a light breakfast as part of the cost, and can choose to provide other meals also at an additional cost to the student.
How much can I make with foreign students?
What you can charge depends on where you live, what your home’s like and what facilities you include as part of the rent. Hosting foreign students in London (bed and breakfast) you can make around £100 a week, (or about £150 with dinner).
You can charge extra for use of the internet or to do laundry, if you’re willing to. Alternatively, including this in the price is a goodwill gesture and will give you more favourable feedback, encouraging the organisation to use you again.
If you are able to host foreign students in a posh house with a bathroom en suite you can charge more – around £200 a week. Often mature students will prefer a double bed and en suite, so if you can offer this, then you’ll be better off.
Outside London, the going rate for hosting foreign students can vary from about £35 to £80 per week with central locations in bigger cities getting the top prices. The organisation you host for will probably give you an idea of acceptable prices. Charging too much will dissuade them from placing students with you, so be reasonable.
Because you have a tax-free allowance on revenue made from your home, your income from renting a room is likely to be completely tax free. You can make up to £7,500 a year before you start paying tax.
Are there any hidden costs?
The only expenses you’ll incur when hosting foreign students are the extra costs of food and maybe a few bills.
food
A good way to approach breakfast is to have a decent selection of bread, cereals and juice for students to choose from in the morning. This way they can grab whatever they want and go.
If you’re providing dinner you can reduce your costs by including the student in your family evening meal. Cooking a separate meal for them isn’t cost or time effective.
Be flexible – younger children may not want to eat certain things so it’s always good to cook popular dishes that you know they’ll like.
bills
Although having another person in the house may increase energy costs, if you already have a family it shouldn’t be much more.
The to watch are phone bills – the best way is to make sure students always use a phonecard with a freephone access number so you don’t incur any costs. However, many of them will have their own mobile phone so that shouldn’t be so much of an issue.
insurance
You also need to make sure that your home contents insurance is up to date and notify your insurance company that you have paying guests.
Find out how to make money teaching English as a foreign language
Is it worth hosting foreign students?
We think that hosting foreign students in your spare room is a brilliant way to make money and meet new people.
You get to learn about foreign cultures, forge new relationships and even visit students in their home countries in the future.
And if you don’t get on with one student you’re safe in the knowledge that they’re only there for a limited period of time so you don’t have to put up with them forever.
You might experience a culture clash now and again, but if you don’t mind coming home to unusual cooking smells in your kitchen, and you’re clear about the rules of your house, it should be fine.
If you’re looking to make even more money through your home, check out our article on how to run a B&B
Useful links
If you’re interested in hosting foreign students then have a look for your local language school using these sites:
- Homestay.com
- KaplanInternational.com
- International Association of Language Centres
- English UK
- HomeAway
- Airbnb
If you have a room you could rent to a foreign student – or you are a student looking for accommodation in the UK – leave a comment below
Maybe all you people wanting to host foreign students should stop and think a minute about any neighbours who may be affected! My selfish neighbours are literally filling any space they have with overseas students and we, as semi detached neighbours are suffering from the increased noise levels. My advice is if you can’t afford your house without having students (like my pig ignorant neighbour) then maybe you should move to a smaller place!!!!
We’re christain living in Sacramento California 20 minutes to Sacramento an Davis state university we’ve been hosting for 4 years an love it we have a 6 bedroom home 7 years old loving environment looking for short an long term students if interested contact us at [email protected]
If you are a host or considering being a host family, tired of schools & agents’ extortionate charges, there is a new way of working. At studenthostings.com you can become a host family or homestay online. It’s easy to set-up your profile and you can connect with students directly! You can agree on a price & book securely online. It’s like having your own mini website where you promote your host business. You can offer FB, HB etc as a service, or home tutoring as “other” on the registration page. You can set your own rates and choose your guests.… Read more »
hi,
I have a spare room in my apartment in chennai city in India. I would like to host female foreign exchange students or teachers for short stays. Families if small can also be accomedated.
Hi I’ve started hosting students in the last few days after reading money magpie’s article – worth noting set up expenses – £30 booking fee to the agency who supply the students; £25 for an online CRB check (now called a disclosure); £60 for a Gas Safety Certificate (but n.b. rules are quite stringent and we had to spend over £200 bringing our boiler up to scratch). the students themselves are sweet and no bother. they eat everything put in front of them (we are doing half board) and are enjoying trying new things and being in the UK. So… Read more »
Another great site to rent your rooms to exchange students is: .eurasmus.
It is completely free to list your room and only takes 15 minutes of your time.
How do I become a host for students I live in Birmingham
Thanks for your great information, the contents are quiet interesting.I will be waiting for your next post.Physics tutor
Hosting students is a great way to supplement your family income, we put in time and effort and students keep returning!
What I am not sure about is how much you can claim as expenses ( food/ heating/ hot water/ laundry wi-fi/) when you earn over the tax free limit of £4,250. I have calculated that I make about £50 profit per week out of £120 paid by the language school. Can anyone advise please.
Hi i am a student in Thailand now I’m 18 years old and i want to work or learn if you can support please contCT ME
LINE : AAUII55
Hi are you looking for place to stay.
Hèy Asha im internetional student and im looking for place to stay please contact
Host Families in Crawley, West Sussex wanted for French Students. Call/email for info pack M.07719 268945 or [email protected]
Students are taking more interest in study abroad these days and it seems very tough to stay there if you are not aware with their culture and language. English becomes more popular language because this speaking in mostly countries and easy to learn too.